Columbus, Christopher

1451 – He was born between August and October in Genoa a seaport in Northern Italy.

1470 – He was in the service of René I of Anjou (Duke of Anjou Western France) in a Genoese ship, he was hired to support the attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Naples mainland of southern Italy.

1476 – In May, he took part in an armed convoy sent by Genoa to carry a valuable cargo to northern Europe.

1492 – On the evening of August 3rd, he departed from Palos, Southwest Spain and sailed to Canary Island (a Kingdom of Spain) located at Southern Europe. On October 12th they landed in an island and he named it San Salvador (now the Bahamas). He also explored the Northeast of Cuba.

1493 – On September 24th he left Spain to find new territories, with 17 ships carrying supplies, and about 1,200 men. On November, he saw a rugged island that he named Dominica (it’s an island Nation in the Caribbean Sea). On the 19th of November he continued his journey to Greater Antilles (an island in Caribbean Sea) and landed at Puerto Rico.

1496 – On the 20th of August he finally returned to Spain.

1498 – On the 30th of May he continued his journey for his third trip to the New World and left Sanlucar, Spain with six ships. 12th of August he explored the mainland of South Africa.

1502 – On May 11th, he made his fourth voyage in search of the Strait of Malacca to the Indian Ocean.

He sailed to Central America.

1503 – He found the Cayman Island (an overseas territory of the United Kingdom) naming them "Las Tortugas" after seeing a plethora of sea turtles in the island. On the 25th of June, their ships docked in the beach of St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica and remained stranded there for 2 years.

1504 – Columbus finally reached Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain, on Nov. 7, of that year. Columbus had 18 months of life remaining, and they were unhappy. Though only 53 he was physically an aged man, a sufferer from arthritis and the effects of a bout of malaria. But financially his position was good, as he had brought considerable gold from America and had a claim to much more in Hispaniola. He died in valladolid

on May 20, 1506.

Columbus was later arrested in 1500 and supplanted from these posts. After his death, Columbus’s sons, Diego and Fernando, took legal action to enforce their father’s contract. Many of the smears against Columbus were initiated by the Spanish crown during these lengthy court cases, known as the pleitos colombinos. The family had some success in their first litigation, as a judgment of 1511 confirmed Diego’s position as Viceroy, but reduced his powers. Diego resumed litigation in 1512, which lasted until 1536, and further disputes continued until 1790.